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ICTETS 2019 IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 688 (2019) 033011 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/688/3/033011

Matlab Simulation of Electromagnetic Waves Propagation

Characteristics

Jiahe Shi1*, Jiaxin Shen2, Haojie Wang3, Yilin Chen1, Hongliang Xiao4 and Xueru
Li1
1
College of Transportation Engineering, Dalian Maritime University, Dalian, Liaoning,
116026, China.
2
School of Maritime Economics and Management, Dalian Maritime University, Dalian,
Liaoning, 116026, China.
3
Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering College, Dalian Maritime University,
Dalian, Liaoning, 116026, China
4
Navigation College, Dalian Maritime University, Dalian, Liaoning, 116026, China.
*
Corresponding author’s e-mail: 15524805980@163.com

Abstract. Military technology has developed rapidly in recent years and used widely in marine
communications, maritime aviation, and underwater exploration. With the rapid development
of signal processing and antenna technologies, underwater electromagnetic communication has
received much attention. Since water is a conductive medium, characteristics exhibited by
electromagnetic waves in water are fundamentally different from those in oil. In order to better
study the propagation characteristics of electromagnetic waves within the medium, the
simulation of the electromagnetic wave propagation in water and oil were conducted using
MATLAB, and variation of the electric field and magnetic field vector with time were obtained.
Moreover, the three-dimensional real-time graphics of electromagnetic wave propagation can
also be simulated in MATLAB; different patterns of electromagnetic waves propagating in oil
and water were generated.

1. Introduction
The transportation and exploitation of offshore oil have developed rapidly in recent years. The study
of underwater electromagnetic wave is conducive to the development of oil spill monitoring and oil
film thickness measurement technology, which also comes along with great prospect on application.
At present, research on marine oil spill monitoring at home and abroad has been continuously
developed, and many monitoring programs have been proposed. Many of them use electromagnetic
related knowledge to solve marine oil spill problems. The oil film thickness measured by
electromagnetic wave is easily affected by sea breeze and wave. In order to provide a more accurate
measurement method, this paper discusses in detail the difference of conductivity between seawater
and various oils and the propagation characteristics of electromagnetic waves in seawater, and
analyses the causes and propagation rules of the differences in the propagation of electromagnetic
waves in different media.

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ICTETS 2019 IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 688 (2019) 033011 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/688/3/033011

2. Seawater conductivity
Conductance per unit length of a water column with cross-sectional area of a square centimeter is
termed as ‘liquid conductivity’. Natural water source, such as rain, tap water, underground water, river,
lake and sea water, etc., contains different concentrations of electrolytes. Electrolytes are conductive
ions with positive and negative charges, such as H+, K+, I+, OH- , NA+. When an electric field is
applied across electrodes in the aqueous solution, ions movement forms an electric current under the
effect of electric field. This is the conductive property of water, and this property can be described by
the conductivity (or resistivity) of water. Seawater contains more than ten times conductive ions than
rivers and lakes, so the conductivity of seawater is much higher. Experts and scholars such as Xueyi
Min and Guohua Chen studied the relationship between the conductivity, chlorine and density in water
samples offshore in China, the conductivity of these water samples were between 48.5-68.7. For air
conductivity, the average surface conductivity of the global surface atmosphere is 2.3×10-14, with
variation between 0.2×10-14 and 6×10-14. It can be seen that the conductivity of seawater is much
greater than the conductivity of sea surface air. Compared with the conductivity of seawater, the
conductivity of air is negligible. Most of the conductive medium in petroleum are hydrocarbons, and
there are also a small number of non-hydrocarbons and sulfur compounds. These light and
non-hydrocarbon compounds are insulating materials. Therefore, oil and oil products have strong
insulation, Electrical resistivity of various oils are shown in Table 1.
Table1. Resistivity of various oils
Oil Products Resistivity / Ω.m Oil Products Resistivity / Ω.m
Aviation
Insulating Mineral Oil 1011-1017 2.1×1012
kerosene
Purification Of Hydrocarbons
1×1015 Diesel 1.3×1012
With High Purify
Light Fraction 1010-1014 gasoline 2.5×1011
12
Petroleum Ether 8.4×10 crude 107-1014
Kerosene 7.3×1012
Since the seawater conductivity is about 3S/m, σ≠0, lossy conductive medium, and the propagation
constant is complex, thus causing the magnetic field and electric field to be out of phase and their
amplitudes to be continuously attenuated.
In air, the average total surface conductivity of the global surface atmosphere is 2.3×10-14, varying
between 0.2×10 and 14-6×10-14, in vacuum, uniform lossless medium, σ=0
Most of the conductive medium in various oils are hydrocarbons, and there are also a small number
of non- hydrocarbons and sulfur compounds. These light and non-hydrocarbon compounds are
insulating materials, so various oils after separation are very strong, and 10-5 can be considered as 0, so
σ=0 in oil is uniform and no coal consumption.
In an ideal uniform isotropic space, the magnetic field and electric field of the plane
electromagnetic wave are perpendicular to each other, in the same phase, and the amplitude remains
unchanged without attenuation.

3. The propagation characteristics of electromagnetic waves in uniform and lossy media

When the electromagnetic wave propagates in a medium with conductivity σ, and with relative
dielectric constant ε 𝜀 𝜀 , and magnetic permeability μ 𝜇 𝜇 , the wave satisfies the Maxwell's
equations.
⃗
∇ H⃗ εE⃗ jωεE⃗ jωε E⃗ σE⃗ ε (2.1)
⃗
∇ E⃗ jωμH⃗ μ (2.2)

∇ ∙ B⃗ 0 → ∇ ∙ H⃗ 0 (2.3)

2
ICTETS 2019 IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 688 (2019) 033011 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/688/3/033011

∇ ∙ D⃗ 0 → ∇ ∙ E⃗ 0 (2.4)
B⃗ μH⃗,D⃗ εE⃗.
Where ε ε j is the equivalent dielectric constant, when σ = 0, that is, when the medium is a
lossless medium, 𝜀 𝜀. For a linear (D⃗ Parallel to E⃗ ，B⃗ Parallel to H⃗ ), uniform (the same
performance for all dot media) and isotropic (μ and ε and direction-independent) medium (abbreviated
as LHI media), μ and ε are standard constants. Such a medium is also referred to as a homogeneous
medium.
The above equations are only dependent on two variables (E⃗ with H⃗)related. We can then derive
an equation with variable E⃗ from equation (2.2)
⃗
∇ ∇ E⃗ μ∇ (2.5)
Substituting vector identities ∇ ∇ E⃗ ∇ ∇ ∙ E⃗ ∇ E⃗ and ∇ E⃗ 0 into ∇ ∇ E⃗ ∇ E⃗
into Equation (2.5), and computing the vector in Cartesian coordinates
∇ E⃗ ∇ E a⃗ ∇ E a⃗ ∇ E a⃗ (2.6)
The Laplacian operator in (2.6) is
∇ (2.7)
⃗
Changing the order of differentiation, formula ∇ ∇ E⃗ μ∇ ) can be rewritten as
∇ E⃗ μ ∇ H⃗ (2.8)
∇ H⃗ can be substituted using Equation (2.1) to get
⃗ ⃗
∇ E⃗ μσ με (2.9)
This is a set of three equations in the conductive medium with field E⃗. We can obtain a similar set
of three equations for H⃗,
⃗ ⃗
∇ H⃗ μσ με (2.10)
The set of six independent equations given by equations (2.9) and (2.10) are called the general
wave equations. These equations govern the behavior of electromagnetic fields in homogeneously
conductive medium. In second-order differential equations, the existence of the first-order term
indicates that the field is attenuated (with energy loss) as it propagates through the medium. Therefore,
the conductive medium is called a lossy medium.
The wave equation of electromagnetic waves in the medium is
∇ E⃗ y E⃗ 0 (2.11)
⃗
∇ H y H 0 ⃗ (2.12)
Where γ ω με , the propagate constants. The propagation equation of the electromagnetic
wave (assuming the propagation direction is z) is
E⃗ e⃗ E e e⃗ E e e (2.13)
⃗
H⃗ e⃗ e⃗ e e (2.14)
/ /
Where ω μ𝜀 ω𝜇 𝜀 𝑗 α jβ
/
α ω 1 1
/
β ω 1 1
Where α is the decay constant and β is the phase constant.
When the medium is a uniform, non-consumable medium, the attenuation constant α=0, the phase
constant β ω√με. From the above analysis, it can be seen that the propagation characteristics of

3
ICTETS 2019 IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 688 (2019) 033011 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/688/3/033011

electromagnetic waves in a uniform, lossy conductive medium (σ≠0, such as water, a conductor) and
the propagation characteristics in a uniform lossless medium (σ=0, such as vacuum or oil) are different.
When the electromagnetic wave propagates in the lossless medium, the attenuation constant α=0, the
electromagnetic wave does not decay during the propagation process; when the electromagnetic wave
propagates in a conductive medium, the attenuation constant α≠0, the electromagnetic wave is
attenuated during the propagation process.
In oil, the magnetic field and the electric field are in phase, the amplitude remains the same, and no
attenuation occurs. In water, since the conductivity is not zero, the propagation constant is complex,
resulting in a phase difference between the magnetic field and the electric fields with a continuously
attenuated amplitude. We then simulated the two cases using Matlab.
The simulation codes are as follows:
clear;
clc
k=2*pi;% spatial propagation constant
w=10;% angular frequency
Exm=20*sqrt(2); % electric field amplitude
Hym=15*sqrt(2); % magnetic field amplitude
x=0:0.01:3; % space representative point
Zo1=zeros(size(x));
for i=1:1000
t=i*0.01;
% Ey=Exm*cos(w*tk*x);% oil
% Hz=Hym*cos(w*tk*x);% oil
Ey=Exm*cos(w*tk*x).*exp(-0.5*x);% underwater
Hz=Hym*cos(w*tk*x-pi/4).*exp(-0.5*x);% underwater
figure(1)
plot3(x,Ey,Zo1,'b');
hold on;
plot3(x,Zo1,Hz,'b');
grid on;
axis([0,2,-20,20,-20,20])
Xlabel('x axis'); ylabel('electric field'); zlabel('magnetic field');
set(gcf,'color','w')
pause(0.01)
hold off;
End

4. Simulation results
By running the above code, the electric and magnetic field trajectories of electromagnetic waves in
water and at different points in the oil can be obtained. Figure 1 shows the trajectories of the electric
and magnetic field vectors at three different time in water space. Figure 2 shows the trajectories of the
electric and magnetic field vectors at three different time in oil.
The simulation results are as follows:

4
ICTETS 2019 IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 688 (2019) 033011 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/688/3/033011

Figure 1. Electric and magnetic field tracks of electromagnetic waves at different points in time in
water

Figure 2. The electrical and magnetic field trajectories of electromagnetic waves at different points in
time in the oil

5. The conclusion
When the electromagnetic wave propagates in a loss-free medium (such as oil), the attenuation
constant α=0, the magnetic field and the electric field are in phase, the amplitude remains unchanged,
and the electromagnetic wave does not decay during propagation; when the electromagnetic wave
propagates in a conductive medium (such as water), the attenuation constant α ≠ 0, the conductivity is
not zero, the propagation constant is complex, and the electromagnetic wave is attenuated during
propagation.

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